Isolation and characterization of the chrysanthemum nitrate transporter CmNRT1

Abstract

In this study, the nitrate transporter gene CmNRT1 was isolated from the chrysanthemum variety ‘Nannongxuefeng’. The full-length cDNA contains an open reading frame of 1761 bp encoding 587 residues. Using qRT-PCR, we found that CmNRT1 was induced by 10 mM NO3- in roots and shoots. Two Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic plants expressing CmNRT1 were selected for functional analyses. Root 15N influx in wild-type and transgenic A. thaliana lines under 10 or 0.2 mM 15NO3 was tested. Our results indicate that CmNRT1 encodes a constitutive component for a low-affinity transporter.